St. Paul & Marriage
theophilus September 10th, 2008
Sometimes I get a little worried when I read St. Paul. In today’s first reading (1 Corinthians 7), he is talking about marriage.
So this is what I think best because of the present distress:
that it is a good thing for a person to remain as he is.
Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation.
Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife.
If you marry, however, you do not sin,
nor does an unmarried woman sin if she marries;
but such people will experience affliction in their earthly life,
and I would like to spare you that.
“Such people,” (i.e. married folk) “will experience affliction in their earthly life, and I would like to spare you that.”
I only have one question – which Tarsus beauty broke St. Paul’s heart??
Do us married folk “experience affliction” in our lives? Heck, yes. Marriage is hard. But do single folk experience affliction in their lives? Heck, yes. Singledom is hard.
Relationships are hard work.
Heck, my wife is mad at me right now because I am in the middle of a thought for this post that I don’t want to lose and she wants to tell me about something she just read. (I’ll make it up to her as soon as I hit “Publish.”)
But, marriage is so worth it. It’s the part about sharing your life with another; loving another with your whole being; creating and nurturing life; building a foundation for future generations; fostering love and security; emulating Mary & Joseph; doing God’s will in the most intimate of ways; building Christ’s kingdom here on earth.
My wife completes me. She is God’s divine gift to me. She is a blessing beyond measure. With all due respect to St. Paul, she is most certainly not an “affliction.” Heck, in her beautiful, angelic eyes (and the eyes she has passed onto our children), I get to see Christ’s and Mary’s face each and every day.
Why would St. Paul want to “spare” me of that?
I love your sentiment, but had to post. St. Paul always gets an unfair rap.
I don’t think that St. Paul is saying that one’s spouse is an affliction, but that aspects of married and family life require sacrifice and will cause pain. This is true.
Don’t get me wrong, I was called to this life. I love and am in love with my wife. I love my three children. I also understand that there are challenges faced by a married person that someone called to devote their life exclusively to Christ does not go experience.
Marriage and family mean substantial sacrifice. If it was just my wife and me, life would be easier from a making my way through the world perspective, but then I wouldn’t have my kids. They are awesome gifts from God. But they still require a huge sacrifice on my part. And the do, and will do things that break my heart.
When you are at work for a while you might want to change. If you are unattached would be no problem, right? U mean, I’d have no problem renting a low end place. But when you have responsibility of a family that just can’t happen. But you do what you have to do, because that is your call.
I think St. Paul is right. If a person is called to celibate life (priest or nun) and, through the grace of God they can make and keep those vows, then they have chosen the better path. Kind of like Martha and Mary in the Gospels.